Computer-aided techniques are known to include Computer-Aided Design or CAD, which relates to software solutions for authoring product design. Similarly, CAE is an acronym for Computer-Aided Engineering, e.g. it relates to software solutions for simulating the physical behavior of a future product. CAM stands for Computer-Aided Manufacturing and typically includes software solutions for defining manufacturing processes and operations.
A number of systems and programs are offered on the market for the design of objects (or parts) or assemblies of objects, forming a product, such as the one provided by Dassault Systèmes under the trademark CATIA. These CAD systems allow a user to construct and manipulate complex three dimensional (3D) models of objects or assemblies of objects. CAD systems thus provide a representation of modeled objects using edges or lines, in certain cases with faces. Lines or edges may be represented in various manners, e.g. non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS). These CAD systems manage parts or assemblies of parts as modeled objects, which are mostly specifications of geometry. Specifically, CAD files contain specifications, from which geometry is generated, which in turn allow for a representation to be generated. Geometry and representation may be stored in a single CAD file or multiple ones. CAD systems include graphic tools for representing the modeled objects to the designers; these tools are dedicated to the display of complex objects—the typical size of a file representing an object in a CAD system being in the range of one Megabyte per part, and an assembly may comprise thousands of parts. A CAD system manages models of objects, which are stored in electronic files.
In computer-aided techniques, the graphical user interface (GUI) plays an important role as regards the efficiency of the technique.
Also known are Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, which refer to a business strategy that helps companies to share product data, apply common processes, and leverage corporate knowledge for the development of products from conception to the end of their life, across the concept of extended enterprise. By including the actors (company departments, business partners, suppliers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM), and customers), PLM may allow this network to operate as a single entity to conceptualize, design, build, and support products and processes.
Some PLM solutions make it for instance possible to design and develop products by creating digital mockups (a 3D graphical model of a product). The digital product may be first defined and simulated using an appropriate application. Then, the lean digital manufacturing processes may be defined and modeled.
The PLM solutions provided by Dassault Systèmes (under the trademarks CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA) provides an Engineering Hub, which organizes product engineering knowledge, a Manufacturing Hub, which manages manufacturing engineering knowledge, and an Enterprise Hub which enables enterprise integrations and connections into both the Engineering and Manufacturing Hubs. All together the system delivers an open object model linking products, processes, resources to enable dynamic, knowledge-based product creation and decision support that drives optimized product definition, manufacturing preparation, production and service.
Such PLM solutions comprise a relational database of products. The database comprises a set of textual data and relations between the data. Data typically include technical data related to the products said data being ordered in a hierarchy of data and are indexed to be searchable. The data are representative of the modeled objects, which are often modeled products and processes.
A PLM solution, such as the one sold under the name ENOVIA, may automatically capture and manage product information and facilitates the design of object (or parts). For example, the user may wish to design a product, e.g. a braking pedal. A standard CAD tools enable a user to search between parts or products stored. Databases used in PLM systems enable queries to be made on various types of data and relations between parts or product. As a result, the scope of the navigation of the database is the widest possible. In practice, the user can have access to all the parts, products, assemblies processes, people, and, from a general standpoint, any data related to the manufactured goods through their lifecycle.
Nevertheless, databases do usually not allow the user to easily navigate and find an object (or part) since the data do not have a graphical representation. Data are identified by file names or types and those names may not be relevant enough to identify precisely the items that the user is looking for.
For the sake of completeness, a database is defined usually as a collection of data or information organized for rapid search and retrieval, especially by a computer. Databases are structured to facilitate storage, retrieval, modification, and deletion of data in conjunction with various data-processing operations. A database consists of a file or set of files that can be broken down into records, each of which consists of one or more fields. Fields are the basic units of data storage. Users retrieve database information primarily through queries. Using keywords and sorting commands, users can rapidly search, rearrange, group, and select the field in many records to retrieve or create reports on particular aggregates of data according to the rules of the database management system being used.
In general, during the various routine steps of a design session, a user needs to search and find an object. To this aim, the user knows (or is able to identify) the name of the object that is searched. In the contrary case, it is almost impossible for the user to find the object because the object is stored with billions of other objects. In addition, the database can store one or more objects which are unknown to the user and that would better fit to the current designing session of the user.
There is therefore a need for a better optimized process for efficiently searching a relevant object during a design session.